Orchids as food
You might not think about orchids as ingredients in food but there are several orchids used in food among which vanilla is the most common? You will likely use a lot of orchids in your cooking if your kitchen happens to be located in Asia Minor.
The Early Purple Orchid, Orchis mascula, is a terristrial orchids primarely found in the mediterranean basin. The orchid flowers in late spring or early summer, the flowers are redish to purple and have given the orchid it’s name. It has been regarded as a powerful aphrodisiac and was referred to as “long purple” by Gertrude in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “
“of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, that liberal shepards give a grosser name”. Gertrude in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
The roots have also been used in European spellwork.
The Early Purple Orchid forms underground tubers which are ground to a powder and used in the kitchen, chiefly to produce the hot beverage “salep” or Turkish ice cream (more or less)”salepli dondurma” dondurma is the Turkish word for ice cream. This species is also an ingredient in salep pudding which is a much appriciated desert in certain parts of the middle east.
Salep is the word for a powder made from the tubers from this orchid. Some sources believe that the word salep comes from the Turkish expression “¸¸¥asyu al-tha`lab” which is a graphic description of how the early purple orchid tubers look and means fox testicles. Others believe that the Turkish name comes directly from the Arabic name sa¸sa¸¥lab.
Orchid drink
Before coffee and tea was introduced to Europe, salep was not only popular in the Near and Middle East but enjoyed in England and Germany as well. In England, it was known under the name saloop. Old 16th and 17th century recipes shows that salep during this period was made from water and salep powder that was flavoured with rose water and sweetened. When Orchis mascula powder was impossible to obtain or too expensive to purchase, the underground tubers of orchids growing in Britain commonly known as dogstones were used instead.
Salep remains a popular drink in Turkey, especially during fall and winter. The powder is heated with milk, sugar and cinnamon and served as a thick beverage. The drink is also know as turkish delight which can cause confusion as this name is also used for a confection called lokum made from starch and sugar.
Today, it is illegal to export true salep powder from Turkey due to a decline in wild orchid populations. Most (almost all) salep powder outside turkey is made with artificial flavouring and is not true salep powder.
Orchid ice-cream
Dondurma, a Turkish ice cream, is unique and mouch thougher and chewier than normal ice cream. It is also highly resilient to melting. Salep and thickening agents along side goat milk and traditional methods is what gives this ice cream it’s unique texture. Mastic, an ingredient in the ice cream, is an evergreen shrub of the Pistacio family.
The Kahramanmara region in southeastern Turkey is know for making dondurma using very large amounts of salep, thus creating a very thick and though ice cream. This ice cream is known as mara dondurmas and can actually be eaten with a knife and fork. In Turkey, dondurma and mara dondurmas is commonly sold from street carts where the mixture is churned regularly using long-handled paddles.
